4.19.2013

Turn the Other Cheek

When I got Girly Girl, my first greyhound and heart dog, I had decided the rule of the house was going to be no hounds on the furniture. Human beds were for humans and dog beds were for dogs. That lasted until the first time GG gave me the puppy dog eyes and asked to sleep on my bed with me. I melted and then caved.

Bettina greyhound shares mumma's pillow
Once the floodgates are opened there is no shutting them. Subsequently Blue would join me on the bed until he was supplanted by Bettina. On that score, poor Blue had no choice. She claimed the bed and refused to let him up. Poor baby, he rarely dares enter the bedroom any more despite my frequent attempts to show him he has seniority.

Bettina’s usual routine is to wait until I get settled into bed and then join me. She hops up on “her” side of the bed and checks everything out. Then she spends some time determining exactly where she will lay herself down. Most often, she sleeps with her back to the edge of the bed. Her four legs are stretched out and her feet are touching my back.

During the course of the night, I am usually awakened a few times by a foot in the armpit or a kick to the stomach. Bettina is as restless a sleeper as her mumma is. Lucky me. By morning, she is usually spooning me with her head on my pillow, snoring and drooling.

The other night, like most nights, Bettina assumed her usual position on the bed and after reading a short while, I turned out the lights and we were soon asleep. At some point during my lovely slumber I became aware of a strange sensation. Bettina had worked her way towards the end of the bed and was dreaming. I had been awakened by four greyhound feet drumming out a racing rhythm on my behind.

Bettina greyhound-do NOT turn the other cheekThe dream race picked up momentum and her feet were furiously pistoning against my poor backside. When you wake up in this situation, you don’t really know what the proper protocol is. Do you do the polite thing and let her finish her race? Do you wake her up and prevent worse gluteal bruising? I was sleep befuddled and at a loss as to how best to proceed. Bettina, in her dream, certainly had no trouble proceeding and the race continued.

Eventually I give up trying to reason anything out in the middle of the night. I waited while she finished up her race. Her sharp clawed paws drumming and clawing and kicking me in the posterior. It’s possible that the racing surface she was using somehow replicated the racing surface of her dream. In any case, she never woke.

The race eventually concluded and mumma finally was able to get back to sleep. I awoke the next morning with a small black greyhound curled contentedly in the crook of my neck. Though I know that one should turn the other cheek, both of mine were all scratched and bruised and I was crabby from loss of sleep. It was thus that I could not resist waking Bettina with a pinch to her bony little greyhound bum.

9 comments:

  1. Pay back. Sorry, Bettina. Other than that, she sounds like a pretty good snuggle bunny.

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  2. BOL, I've never had this happen but once I woke up during the night thinking I'd had a stroke. The whole left side of my face was immobile. After a while I realised Beryl had a paw firmly jammed in my cheek. About a year ago I bought a super king sized bed thinking that might solve the shortage of room on the queen sized one. Not so, I think Beryl just manages to grow into a Great Dane minutes before I hop into the bed. Or is it that she hogs the pillows?

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  3. I only get onto the bed with Mum and Dad if it's super cold at night - otherwise I take myself off upstairs and stretch out on the couch up there... I can tell who has the upper paw in your house... :-)

    Big WOOFS from Solo :-)

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  4. I sleep on one side of Mum and Goo sleeps on the other. Mum gets a big 8inch gap in the middle - how much room does a human need I ask you. Us Border Terriers need lots of room for a good sideways stretch.

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  5. Bettina, I love you SO! But you and Bunny can never be allowed to compare notes! Bunny curls up between us, usually against my husband so that she can be covered up under her extra quilt. The problem is that she believes the bed is hers and that she allows us to sleep in it. Most of the time, she shifts over to lay with her back pressed against mine so she can kick the living daylights out of my husband. She considers it a good night if he gets up and moves to the couch!

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  6. There was a time when this was all too familiar. LOL... Mandy won't even get on the couch with us - though invited. She has 6 beds in this house to herself now (when the cats are laying all over us), and she loves them all. Being an only hound now, when our house used to hold 9 at a time, she pretty much does her own thing without being bothered.

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  7. Maggie says to tell Bettina, "Way to rule, girl!"

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  8. LOL!You paint quite a scene! Wilson runs in his sleep too, although I imagine, instead of running a race, he's herding sheep or chasing the fox. Fortunately, being a short-legged corgi, I can re-position myself out of reach, and let the dream continue.

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  9. Lol. I love that you waited for her to finish up the race. That is true devotion!

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